Fall 2015

The sentiment that finance does not benefit society is not just the result of the 2007–10 financial crisis: throughout history (prohibitions against finance date as far back as the Old Testament), finance has been perceived as a rent-seeking activity.

Behavioral scientists and policymakers turn to nudges when implementing new policies, but some critics argue that such nudges are manipulative, coercing people into choices they aren’t even aware they’re making.

Whether customers value quality over convenience is a constant question for many businesses. For movie-theater owners, the issue is whether customers prefer bigger, higher-quality screens or smaller screens with a greater variety of show times.

China’s financial system is fourth largest in the world, behind only those of the United States, the eurozone, and Japan. Thus what happens in China financially will have important consequences for the development of financial markets and economies in Asia and worldwide.

In physics, the well-known observer effect describes how the act of measurement changes what’s being measured. An electron can’t be detected without interacting with a photon, yet that interaction changes the path of the electron.

People often assume that the poor are less competent than the wealthy. But my colleagues and I have recently found that the poor outperform the rich at some financial decisions. Under poverty, people develop a unique expertise.